Simple. Seasonal. Delicious.

Spinach Gnocchi

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of family or friends. My husband and I ate, drank and laughed the night away with our close friends’ family, and it couldn’t have been a nicer way to spend the holiday. We left stuffed, full of stories and with plans for a small New Year’s Eve party, for which I’m already dreaming up a delicious menu.

Now, onto the gnocchi: These thick, soft dumplings are a nice diversion from the heavy, hearty fare which everyone gobbles up (no pun intended) this time of year, but still make for a warm and delicious fall meal.

Gnocchi is most commonly mistaken for a kind of pasta, but in fact, it is a small Italian dumpling, usually made from potatoes or bread crumbs. Homemade bread crumbs share the spotlight here, and they’re both easy and essential to tasty spinach gnocchi.

In this vegetarian recipe, the sauteed spinach in the gnocchi dough is pepped up with a dash of olive oil and topped with grated Parmigiano Reggiano for a simple, light and flavorful pairing. You could also serve these gnocchi as a side dish, or as the main course for lunch or dinner. For a different taste, toss them in a meat sauce or with a little butter and sage.

Making gnocchi at home is very easy and requires no special equipment, just your hands. It takes only minutes to prepare them, and you can refrigerate them earlier in the day and then cook once you’re ready.

If your tummy full of turkey is craving something light, fresh and flavorful, look no further than a delicious plate of spinach gnocchi. Give these a try and you’ll impress even yourself!

Ingredients:

Directions:

Thoroughly wash the fresh spinach and place in a steamer basket. Steam until wilted. Remove and place in clean towels and wring out as much liquid as you can. Chop finely.

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Shape the mixture into balls and place on a cookie sheet or any prep pan. The mixture will be very wet. Flour your hands or roll the gnocchi in a little flour to shape them into balls a little smaller than the size of a walnut. At this point, you can put them in the fridge until you are ready to cook them later.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. With a slotted spoon or a handled strainer, place a few gnocchi at a time in the simmering water and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove with the slotted spoon to a serving dish and keep warm by tenting with a piece of foil. Repeat with remaining gnocchi.

You can dress these gnocchi with just some olive oil, sea salt and some more grated cheese. This is my favorite way to eat them.

Enjoy!

* Be sure to use freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese - pre-grated cheese in the grocery store will not work as well.

* Make your own fresh bread crumbs for this. Just take any bread and grind it in your food processor. Fresh bread crumbs! It makes a difference.

Hi Georgia-What a gorgeous gnocchi/balls recipe, and photos of it. I couldn’t agree more, by using the best Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. No substitute will do. What a flavorful and yummy spinach and cheese goodness!

So you may be impressed with my croissants but I am totally impressed with your gnocchi! It’s something that I’ve been meaning to try for a while but whenever we plan to do it, we always lose track of time! How bout this.. if you try out the croissants I’ll try the gnocchi :)

Wow, I just commented on another blog about how I loved gnocchi with the kind of sauce she made (vodka)! I’ve never had spinach gnocchi, but it must be amazing. Didn’t realize how simple they were to make!

Hi Georgia!What a stunning plate! I love eating gnocchi, but I’ve never prepared it myself. This looks like a perfect recipe to try. I think the color is just fabulous, and I’m sure it tastes even better. Thank you for sharing with me. I hope you are having a joy-filled afternoon!

Gnocci is one of my favorites and I love adding spinach to anything…this is such a winner of a recipe :) It would be awesome for a dinner party on New Years Eve… Now you have me dreaming of fun plans too! Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving :)

I have just stumbled across your blog, and I love it! I just scrolled down through a few posts, and I think I’m going to have to spend a little bit of time here :) I had no idea how easy it is to make gnocchi, and you sure made it look beautiful!

Hi Georgia – I was checking out Tastespotting this morning and just had to check out your spinach gnocchi. I have a James McNair cookbook with a recipe for this but served with a creamy gorgonzola sauce. It’s been on my to do list for a while now. I used to have Italian neighbor lady who made gnocchi with just ricotta cheese, flour and eggs. They were so light and fluffy and she claimed you could just keep eating them and never get full, which wasn’t completely true. I think she just liked to see people eat a lot of her wonderful food. And her marinara sauce was simply wonderful.

Your blog is lovely and I also checked out your cheddar bacon scones. I might do those this weekend. –Liz

I just made these! A bit late to the party, I know. They don’t look half as nice as yours, but I’m a fairly inexperienced cook, and they still tasted great. I served them with a chunky vegetable pasta sauce (kept it veggie!), which seemed to work well with the gnocchi :)

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